Milestones

APPOINTMENTS

President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have selected UW Engineering Dean Denice Denton to be on the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science. Denton, who became UW's youngest dean in 1996, will help evaluate nominees for the National Medal of Science. The medal gives special recognition to individuals with outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, social and behavioral sciences. Three UW faculty and two UW alumni have won the medal over the past three decades.

Husky Hall of Famer Eleanor McElvaine, '86, is the new Husky women's crew coach, becoming just the third woman head coach since 1980. McElvaine has been UW assistant coach since 1990, and was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 2001 as a member of the 1983 national champion women's crew. She replaces Jan Harville, '74, who retired after 16 years at the helm of the UW women's program.

New UW Student Regent "Daya" Mortel. Photo by Mary Levin.

Gov. Gary Locke named UW senior Darlene "Daya" Marie Escarez Mortel as the 2003-04 student regent in August. A senior majoring in American ethnic studies and political science, Mortel is a second generation Filipino American who has served in the ASUW, Filipino American Student Association and multiple Pacific Islander student groups.

HONORED

UW women's basketball players Nicole Castro, Gioconda Mendiola, Giuliana Mendiola, Loree Payne, '03, and Erica Schelly received the Governor's Lifesaving Award from Gov. Gary Locke at the Governor's Industrial Safety and Health Conference. On New Year's Eve 2002, the Husky student-athletes administered CPR to teammate Kayla Burt, who had collapsed from cardiac arrest, until paramedics arrived on the scene. Burt was later diagnosed with Long Q-T Syndrome, a rare inherited heart condition.

The UW Center for Multicultural Education received the 2003 Program Award, given for the best multicultural education program in the country, at the November convention of the National Association for Multicultural Education. Earlier this year the center won a Brotman Diversity Award from the UW in recognition of its programs to advance diversity within the University community.

William J. Plant, principal research scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory, received the annual John Wesley Powell Award for significant contributions to the U.S. Geological Survey mission. The award recognizes Plant's work on developing RiverRad and RiverScat, which are microwave sensors of river surface velocity. Plant is working to improve both sensors to make them more compact and able to run on electricity from solar panels.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded the University of Washington an Overall Performance Award as part of its 2003 Wealth ID Awards for Educational Fund Raising. The UW is among 25 educational institutions recognized this year for overall performance in educational fund-raising programs. In 2002, the UW raised $231,814,108 in voluntary support. As a winner of this award, the UW was named to CASE's "Circle of Excellence" at the International Assembly held in July in Washington, D.C.